


you should be here

by xaves



Category: Merlin (TV) RPF
Genre: Boys Being Cute, M/M, SDCC, video call
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-07
Updated: 2012-10-07
Packaged: 2017-11-15 20:05:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/531184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xaves/pseuds/xaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Colin recorded that video at SDCC and then there was kissing at the panel and Bradley just doesn’t even know what to do with Col’s damn tight shirt and all in all, they miss each other something terrible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you should be here

“Did you know,” Colin pokes a spoon at the webcam, grinning at the mildly disgusted expression on Bradley’s face, “Were you _aware_ , Bradley James, that it is national ice cream day?”  
  
“I certainly am now. Lactose free?”  
  
A sloppy smile of teeth and vanilla ice cream is Colin’s only response, sweet and sticky and absolutely ridiculous. The pair fall into a silence that’s accompanied only by Bradley shifting in bed, resisting sleep to suffer through the Skype conversation, and Colin licking his spoon clean and wriggling deeper into the armchair to get more comfortable.   
  
“Must be late there.”  
  
“2:00 in the morning. You could almost say it’s quite early, now.” Bradley grunts and rolls, leaving the computer on the bed and lying down beside it so that his face is horizontal across the screen. The room he’s in is dark, the lack of lighting doing nothing but throwing the bags under his eyes into stark view, the glow of his own monitor outlining a lined face, framed by terribly unkept blond chunks of hair.

It’s enough to make Colin’s smile fade a few notches into something closer to concern, “You look absolutely knackered, mate. Go to sleep.”  
  
“Can’t.” Bradley’s eyes shut briefly, clearly fighting off exhaustion with typical stubbornness, voice heavy with what can only be a case of pig-head. “You’re sending me that video, remember? Would be terribly rude to have a video recorded just for me, and then not watch it right away.”  
  
“Assuming a bit much there, thinking it’s just for you.” There’s a snort of disbelief that’s slightly lost over the poor internet connection. Colin allows a few seconds to slip by so that he can enjoy Bradley attempting to scowl away the drowsiness, the fondness warming up the cold dessert that had settled in his stomach. “I _could_ just tell you.”  
  
Bradley visibly considers this, brow stitching together with a yawn, clearly regretting this Skype date at all, what with time difference, a cruel filming schedule that morning, and a far too gleeful Colin Morgan on the other end of the call. “Alright, go on, then.”  
  
“Hmm.”

It’s easier to relay the events of the day, knowing that Bradley’s been to a convention and thus, is more than aware of the insanity that ensues, but Colin summarizes all the same, chuckling as he watched Bradley’s gaze grow wavery, sleepy.   
  
He relays it as best he can, wracking his memory for the best bits. The smiles, the excitement, the fans. Signing until his hand cramped. Katie in a sombrero. __  
  
“I posed by the Batmobile.”

“Dying of envy as we speak.”  
  
“Actually got in it.”  
  
“I slightly dislike you.”  
  
Sitting up at a table and seeing his name card without a “Bradley James” one right beside it. Quietly joking about ridiculous interview questions with Angel while Katie took on every one with her typical ease and charm. Oh, and.

“We had a bit of a Merlin and Arthur moment during the panel, actually.” He laughs at the responding groan of _‘oh god_ ‘,delighted to see he had Bradley’s full, albeit wary attention,  “They were dressed up, Merlin and Arthur, the whole bit, and I’m trying to answer this question and they end up just snogging right at panel, out of nowhere.”  
  
“Snogging.” Slight frown of intense thought. Bradley’s brain refuses to comply and it doesn’t sink in quite properly. “Merlin and Arthur kissed at the panel.”  
  
“Got it on camera.”   
  
“Katie must have been-“  
  
“Ecstatic. Met the pair later, very lovely. They’re actually paired off in real life, it’s sweet, really.”  
  
Bradley stares a moment, then laughs, rubbing at his eyes in a way that meant he was clearly too tired to even think of the possible consequences, but amused all the same. “Bloody hell. Fans.”  
  
“Shame you missed it, we could have showed them a thing or two.” Colin delivers the line he had been mulling over with a cheeky smile, being immediately rewarded with a poorly hidden grin of amusement on the screen. Of course, Bradley had been thinking it, too. The other man thumps his own laptop in a weak imitation of a punch to the arm.  
  
“With that shirt, Cols, I would have been showing them more than just a thing or two.”   
  
“Yeah? Two buttons undone a bit much?” His eyebrows wiggle suggestively, a joke that goes over poorly.  
  
“Colin, you are indecent in the thing, get off it. Hair like that, probably those ridiculous black jeans you always wear…” Bradley waves a hand in annoyance, “Have you under the table in seconds, fans and propriety be damned… Was it any good?”  
  
“Mm. We could do better.”  
  
“Years of pr-” A faint ding interrupts whatever else the blond was about to say, “Ah. Video’s finished, suppose I’ll see what the fuss is about now.”  
  
“Promise to actually sleep after you watch it?” The ice cream has returned and Colin’s already preparing to shove more into his face. Bradley eyes it through the camera a moment, top lip curling, before he nods and gives another apathetic wave.  
  
“I’ll be home in a day or two.”  
  
“I know.” Bradley’s already turning over, returning the laptop to his knees so that he can see the screen properly. “Been counting the days and all that.”  
  
“I see you’re sleeping on my side of the bed.”   
  
Colin’s words are blatantly ignored in favor of replying with, “I see you’re refusing to hang up first, as usual.”  
  
The pair eye each other through the online call, then simultaneously shut their computers, avoiding lengthy goodbyes and stalling. Better to end it, Colin returning to ice cream and packing, Bradley to the video, which he opens with only the slightest wince of trepidation.

He’s thrust into noise and giggles and Colin’s ears. To watching a shaky recording of crooked smiles, loud muffled laughter of the audience. A thoughtful answer on romance. A spinning shot of audience, Colin, audience, Colin, Angel sticking her tongue out, Katie whispering as she records an awkward Colin try waving. Falling asleep, watching Colin mouth “I miss you” and forgetting to turn off the camera, resulting in accidental footage of shuffling feet and fumbling fingers.

A moment alone, where Colin looks directly at him and says, “You should be here, you prat.”  
  
He falls asleep to the thoughts of a man with a mouthful of ice cream, promises of safe return and showing just how exactly a Merlin and Arthur kiss is meant to be done, which hold him through to the morning.


End file.
